Snap-top display carton



May 16, 1961 F. w. HERKENDER SNAP-TOP DISPLAY CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 18, 1959 INVENTOR.

May 16, 1961 F. w. HERKENDER SNAP-TOP DISPLAY CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 18, 1959 INVENTOR.

United E3IS Patent er SNAP-TOP DISPLAY CARTON Frank W. Herkender, Norwalk, Ohio, assignor to The General Carton Company, Norwalk, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed June 18, 1959, Ser. No. 821,131

6 Claims. (Cl. 229-41) This invention relates to cartons of the type made from a foldable blank of sheet material such as paperboard, and it has special reference to a carton having a normally tab-secured cover panel which may be released to open position by pressure applied to the edge panels of the carton.

The object of the invention is to provide a carton suitable for the fully or partially enclosed packaging of various commodities in a manner suitable for counter, pin-board, rack, or other display so that the carton packages may be handled by customers and readily opened for inspection of their contents, and re-closed and restored to display position if the contents are not of the type desired by the customers.

To this end the invention comprises a carton having side panels, edge panels joining said side panels in relatively displaceable condition, a cover panel, and an end panel, the cover panel being hinged to one of the side panels at one edge and having an opposite free edge provided with oifstanding tab means for securing engagement with an aperture in the other side panel, the edge panels preferably being of inverted bellows form and serving, upon application to them of opposed pressure, as when gripped between the thumb and fingers, to collapse toward each other to thus forcibly relatively displace, or separate, the side panels outwardly and thereby withdraw the tab means from the aperture in the aforesaid other side panel and release the cover panel to open, or openable, condition for inspection and removal of the carton contents; and the invention comprises, further, a carton, having the aforedefined characteristics, which may be constructed from a flat blank folded and secured in flat-folded, erectable form in which the end panel is provided with a medial folding score to accommodate it to the desired fiat-folded assembly, and further, the carton may be provided with window, or display, aperture means, and with an end opening through which a part of the packaged commodity, such as the handle of a brush, may protrude, and with means whereby it may be suspended for display purposes, all as will be explained hereinafter more particularly and finally claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the inner face of a sheet material blank for forming one preferred type of carton according to the invention,

3 Fig. 2 is a plan view of the fiat-folded carton formed from the folded and secured blank of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the erected and closed carton of Fig. 2, as seen from the side opposite that shown in Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the other side of the carton,

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the application of pressure to the edge walls to cause snapopening of the cover panel,

Patented May 15, 1961 Fig. 6 is a face view of the carton of Figs. 1 to 5 with a commodity, such as a number of small batteries, packaged therein and displayed through the window opening,

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the filled carton of Fig. 6 in which the contents are indicated in broken lines.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the inner face of a sheet material blank for forming another preferred type of carton according to the invention, this type being particularly adapted to the packaging of paint brushes,

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the flat-folded and secured blank of Fig. 8,

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the erected and closed carton of Fig. 9 as seen from the side opposite that shown in Fig. 9,

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 10, but showing the other side of the carton,

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the opposite end of the carton of Figs. 8 to 11, and

Fig. 13 is a plan view of this carton with a paint brush packaged therein.

Although the cartons shown in Figs. 1 to 7 and 8 to 13, respectively, illustrate the invention as adapted primarily for the packaging of two particular commodities, it will be apparent that the size, proportions, and structural details of the carton may be so modified as to adapt it for the packaging of a variety of other commodities.

Having reference to the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 7, it will be seen that the blank, Fig. 1, comprises side panels 1 and 2 which will normally be at the front and back sides, respectively, of the carton, a cover panel 3, and an end panel 4. The front side panel 1 is provided with edge panels 5 and 6 joined to it along folding scores 7 and 8, respectively, and the edge panel 5 is joined to one edge of the back side panel 2 along a folding score 9. The opposite edge of the back side panel 2 is provided with a glue flap 10 joined to it along a folding score 11. The end panel 4 is joined at one edge to the front side panel 1 along a folding score 12 and its opposite edge is provided with a glue flap 13 defined by a folding score .14. The edge panels 5 and 6, and the end panel 4, are provided with medial folding scores 15, 16 and 17, respectively.

The back side panel 2 carries an extension 13 pref rably provided with a hole 19 by which the package of the carton may be suspended in display position upon a pin-board or rack, or the like, and in substantial align ment with a folding score 20 along which the cover panel 3 is hinged to the front side panel 1, the back side panel 2 is provided with a slit 21 and aperture 22 for the separable engagement of securing tab means 23 oifstanding from the free edge 24 of the cover panel 3.

If desired, the front side panel 1 may be provided with a window opening 25 through which the carton contents can be viewed, as shown in Fig. 6.

The blank of Fig. 1 will be assembled and secured in flat-folded form, as shown in Fig. 2, by folding the back side panel 2 upon the medial folding score 15 of the edge panel 5 flat against, and in register with, the front side panel 1. With adhesive applied to the outer half of the edge panel 6, and to the glue flap 13 of the end panel 4, as indicated by stippling in Fig. 1, these elements are folded upon their respective medial folding scores 16 and 17 and secured, respectively, flat against the glue flap 10 of the back side panel 2 (see broken lines, Fig. 2) and against the outer face of this back side panel.

When the carton is erected for the reception of the commodity to be packaged, it is merely necessary to apply opposed pressure to the opposite edges of the medially folded edge panels 5 and 6 to thereby cause the front and back side panels 1 and 2 to be displaced from each other in substantial parallelism, and after the carton has been filled the cover panel will be folded upon its folding score 29 to closed position with its securing tab means 23 extending. through the slit 21 and aperture 22 and the cover panel thus secured, as shown in Figs; 3, 4, 6 and 7.

As thus erected it will be seen that the carton is fun nished at its edges with deformable means provided by the inverted bellows-like, laterally-projecting, angular arrangement of the two longitudinal halves of the edge panels and 6, and that in the presence of opposed pressure exerted upon the thus disposed edge panels of the filled and closed carton the side panels 1 and 2 will be relatively displaced and the securing tab means 23 withdrawn from the slit 21 and aperture 22 to permit the cover panel 3 to snap open upon its hinge 20, as shown in Fig. 5.

By this manipulation a customer may select a package from the display and open it for inspection of its contents. He may thereafter re-close it by again applying pressure to the edge panels, closing the cover panel and holding it closed while releasing the pressure to thus permit the securing tab means 23 to re-enter the slit 21 and aperture 22 in closure-securing condition.

In the modified embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 8 to 13 the essential panel elements of the carton are similar in basic structure, assembly and function to those of the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 7, and have been given similar reference characters.

However, to properly adapt the carton to the packaging of paint brushes (Fig. 13) or other articles having handles, or other extensions, which need not be enclosed, and preferably are not enclosed, the end panel 4 is provided with an opening 26 (Figs. 8, 9 and 12) through which such handle or extension may project or depend, the body of the article, or brush, being longitudinally retained within the carton by the cover panel 3 and the edges of the end panel 4 at the opening 26, as indicated in Fig. 13 by the broken line showing of a paint brush.

Also, in this modified embodiment, the slit 21, bordering one edge of the aperture 22 and extending past its ends, as shown in the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 7, is dispensed with, and the securing tab means 23 are merely snapped into and out of the aperture '22 during closing and opening of the cover panel 3 on application of opposed pressure to the offstanding edges of the folds of the edge panels '5 and 6.

It will be noted that the cover panel 3 and end panel 4- have their end edges so angularly shaped as to extend over, and conform to, the angles of the otfstanding edge panels 5 and 6 to thus provide full closures at both ends of the carton.

Preferably, the extension 18 of the side panel 2, is provided at its base with a transverse line of fold 27 lying in substantial alignment with the upper edge of the aperture 22 and hence with the outer face of the closed cover panel 3 so that the extension 18 may be folded fiat against the closed cover panel to conserve space for bulk packaging of the filled cartons. This practice will be particularly advantageous in respect to the embodiment i llustrated in Figs. 1 to 7, but will serve also in relation to the embodiment of Figs. 8 to 13. In either case it will be understood that when the cartons are to be suspended in display position it will be necessary only to erect their extensions 18 from the folded position and engage the holes 19 thereof with the suspension elements of a rack or the like.

Various changes and modifications are considered to be Within the principle of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a collapsible carton, a pair of oppositely disposed panels providing the front and back walls for the carton, a cover panel at the top of the carton, an end panel at the bottom of the carton, and edge panels joining the front and back wall panels at the opposite side edges thereof, each of said edge panels being provided with a medial longitudinal folding score and offstanding on said score in V form from the side edges of the wall panels and serving to permit relative separation of said wall panels, said back Wall panel being provided with an extension projecting above the upper end of the carton,

. said cover panel being joined by a hinging score to the top edge of said front wall panel and being foldable into position substantially normal. to said front wall panel with its free edge opposite said hinging score in abutment against said extension to thus determine the relative spacing of said wall panels, securing tab means at the said free edge of the cover panel, a slotted aperture in said extension in substantial alignment with the upper edge of the front Wall panel as defined by said hinging score and serving to receive said securing tab means to hold said cover anel in carton end closing position and thus maintain the front and back wall panels in spaced relation, the offstanding V form of said edge panels serving to permit their deformation by opposed pressure applied to the apexes at their said medial folding scores to partially flatten them to thereby vary the spacing between said wall panels, whereby said wall panels maybe caused to further separate from each other to thus effect automatic withdrawal of said securing tab means from said slotted aperture and release of said cover panel for opening movement upon its. hinging score.

2. A carton as defined in claim 1, in which said end panel is provided with a medial longitudinal folding score, whereby it and said edge panels are similarly rnedially longitudinally flat foldable to permit said wall panels to be disposed in face-toface relation, with said edge panels and said end panel extending outwardly from the edges of the said wall panels with which they are connected.

3. A carton as defined in claim 1, in which the extension of the back wall panel serves as a means for suspending the carton in display position.

4. A carton as defined in claim 1, in which the extension of the back wall panel is provided, in substantial alignment with the upper end of the carton, with a line of fold upon which the said extension may be folded fiat against the closed cover panel.

5. A carton as defined in claim 1, in which said end panel is provided with an opening for accommodating the handle and the like of an article packaged in the carton.

6. A carton as defined in claim 1, in which one of said wall panels is provided with a window opening through which the carton contents can be viewed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

